Professor O’Blivian is a prophetic man. He could be talking about the social media and technology that rule our lives today, and not just TV. When he says that “Videodrome” produces an outward growing tumor that will one day be one giant tumor – basically a collective consciousness – that rules our world, I got goose bumps. This movie is engaging and symbolic. I got a kick out of seeing the phallic-looking gun emerge from the TV set. Cronenberg hired “acclaimed horror novelist Dennis Etchison” to novelize “Videodrome.” The novel was released at the same time as the movie, but it is now out of print (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome). There are a few plot themes that I don’t quite fully understand, so I will be watching this again.
Professor O'Blivion* Is that the greatest play on words, or what? Would have been much more believable if daughter O'Blivion was blonde! Just kidding. She was an hallucination anyway.
ReplyDelete*to forget ... an official ignoring of offenses (Websters)
Check out: Davidson, Tish; Klasen, Mary. "Video Games." Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 7 May. 2012 .
A few interesting snipits from therein:
"The popularity of video games has been matched by the controversy they have sparked among parents, psychologists, and educators. The most prevalent objection results from the violent themes and characters that dominate in most video games. A 1989 study by the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) found that, of the 95 most popular home video games, 58 percent were war games and 83 percent featured violent themes. As technology has improved to allow the games to show situations and characters that are more realistic, debate has escalated about the potential effects of video games on children's behavior. One NCTV study that monitored the playground behavior of eight- to ten-year-olds immediately after playing a laser-weapon game found an 80 percent increase in fighting. There is also added concern that repeated exposure to violence desensitizes children to its effects. Other experts and video game manufacturers contend that negative effects have not been proven adequately, and, in fact, playing such games gives players an avenue for the harmless release of stress and aggression.
Besides the socialization concerns presented by video games, medical concerns were also raised in the early 1990s, when video games were linked to epileptic seizures experienced by some 50 children. About one third of the children had experienced previous seizures, and there were questions about whether the seizures they experienced were related to playing or watching a video game. Two large studies later reported that the children who experienced video game-related seizures (VGRS) were particularly sensitive to light and that video games with flashing lights merely precipitated, rather than caused, the seizures. Sitting too close to the screen could exacerbate the effects of the light sensitivity, as could the increasingly complex graphic technology featured in games. Individuals with epilepsy are not thought to be particularly susceptible to VGRS, and no lasting neurological damage had as of 2004 been linked to these seizures.
Despite the controversy surrounding video games, benefits have also been noted: development of hand-eye coordination , increases in concentration, logical thinking skills, and healthy competition among children, as well as socialization skills gained from sharing strategies and the heightened self-esteem resulting from successful performances. One research study even found that doctors who had played more video games had better surgical skills."
Wow. There's a real risk v. benefit analysis.